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The night before your surgery - children

Follow the instructions from your child's doctor for the night before surgery. The directions should tell you when your child has to stop eating or drinking, and any other special instructions.

Stopping Food and Drinks the Night Before Surgery

Stop giving your child any solid food after 11 p.m. the night before surgery. Your child should not eat or drink any:

Solid food

Juice with pulp

Milk

Cereal

Candy or chewing gum

Give your child clear liquids up until 2 hours before the scheduled time at the hospital. Here is a list of clear liquids:

Apple juice

Gatorade

Pedialyte

Water

Jell-O without fruit

Popsicles without fruit

Clear broth

If you are breastfeeding, you can breastfeed your baby until 4 hours before the scheduled time to come to the hospital.

If your baby is drinking formula, stop giving your baby formula 6 hours before the scheduled time to come to the hospital. Do not put cereal in the formula after 11 p.m.

Medicines

Give your child medicines that you and the doctor agreed you should give. Check with the doctor to see if you should give the usual doses. If you are confused about which medicines to give your child the night before or the day of surgery, call your doctor.

Stop giving your child any medicines that make it harder for your child's blood to clot. Stop giving them about 3 days before surgery. These include aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Naprosyn, Aleve), and other drugs.

Do not give your child any supplements, herbs, vitamins, or minerals before surgery unless your doctor said it was okay.

Bring a list of all of your child's medicines to the hospital. Include the ones that you were told to stop giving before surgery. Write down the dosage and how often you give them.

Give Your Child a Bath

Give your child a bath the night before surgery. You want them to be clean. Your child not have a bath again for days. Your child should not wear nail polish, have fake nails, or wear jewelry during surgery.